HISTORY-II

The Charter Act of 1833 and The Charter Act of 1853

SUBMITTED BY:-
Name Ashish Raj Tripathi,P.R.N. 13010223043;Prog. BA.LLB Division- C
Roll No. -40
Of
Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

Symbiosis International University, PUNE
Under the guidance of
PROF. ANUJ KAUSHAL











CERTIFICATE

The project entitled The Charter Act of 1833 and The Charter Act of
1853 submitted to the Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA for History-II as
part of internal assessment is based on my original work carried out
under the guidance of Prof. Anuj Kaushal from January to April. The
research work has not been submitted elsewhere for award of any
degree. The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in
the project has been duly acknowledged. We understand that we
ourselves could be held responsible and accountable for plagiarism, if
any, detected later on.




Signature of the candidates
Date















ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure to present this project in front of all of
you. This work is the result of the hard work and creativity of many
people whom we would like to thank from the core of our heart.
Then we would like to thank my History teacher Prof. Anuj Kaushal for
giving us the idea and providing us with all the required help and
support. Without his guidance this work would not have come into
reality. Lastly we would like to thank our friends and family for
correcting us whenever we went wrong and supporting us in every
step. Without all the people mentioned above, this work wouldnt have
come into reality.

















INTRODUCTION
The Charter Act 1833 which was enacted by the British Parliament provided for the
establishment of a Law Commission for consolidation and codification of Indian
Laws. The said Act provided for the addition of a fourth ordinary Member to the
Governor General in Council for India who was to be a legal expert in the making of
laws. Lord Macaulay was appointed as the fourth ordinary Member and was
entitled to participate in the meetings of the Governor General in Council for
making of laws.
In 1835, Lord Macaulay was appointed as Chairman of the First Law Commission.
Sir James Stephen was appointed as a Law Member in place of Lord Macaulay. At
that point of time a separate department known as the Legislative Department was
functioning as a sub-division of the Home Department managed by an Assistant
Secretary who prepared the draft Bills needed for legislations.
During 1869, it was felt that so important duty ought to be entrusted to a distinct
department and thus a separate department known as the Legislative Department
was constituted. After the constitution of the Legislative Department, proposals for
legislations were initiated by the concerned Department dealing with the subject
matter and thereafter the Legislative Department used to take charge of the Bill.
The Secretary to the Legislative Department was also Secretary to the Council of
the Viceroy for the purpose of making laws. He and the Law Member drafted all the
Bills which were placed before the Council. Due to the labours of the Law
Commission many important Acts were enacted during the latter part of the
Nineteenth Century. To name a few, the Indian Penal Code which is still in force
was the product of the original work of Lord Macaulay. Similarly, the draft
contained in the First Report of the Third Law Commission formed the basis of the
Indian Succession Act passed by the Governor General and Council under the
guidance of Sir Henry Maine. It codified the law relating to the effect of death and
marriage upon succession to property and also the law relating to Bills. The Second
Report (1866) contained a draft Contract Bill which became law after revision by Sir
James Stephen in 1872.

CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE ACT
The twenty years intervening between the charter acts of 1813 witnessed great
changes in England. The industrial revolution had great impact on the country
ushering in the Machine Age which revolutionized the method of production.
Cheap products of the new machines and their export overseas widened the
outlook of the people. Money flowed in giving birth to a new spirits of
independence. A new class of intelligentsia emerged to take up cudgels on behalf
of the labourer.
In 1830 the wings came into power and opened the way for the triumph of the
liberal principles. The gospel of the rights of man was openly preached. The great
reform act was passed in 1832 through after a tussle. The dignity of mankind was
given due recognition and the doctrine of laisser-faire was being widely accepted. It
was in this atmosphere of reform and liberal ideas that the parliament was called
upon to view the charter of the company in 1833. There were not a few then
parliament who advocates that the company should be wound up and that the
crown should take over the administration of India. But this view was not shared by
the majority in parliament and that body agreed with Macaulay that the companys
rule in India has to be continued though on a different basis. Macaulay was the
secretary to the board of control and James mill, the renowned historian and a
disciple of Bentham, occupied a high position at the India House.

PROVISIONS OF THE ACT
The act gave another lease of life to the company for twenty years to administer
Indian territories in trust for his Majesty, his heirs and successors
The company lost its monopoly of china trade
It was also asked to close its commercial business as early as possible. The interest
of the share-holders were safeguarded by guaranteeing them a dividend of 10.5%
per annum till the companys stock was purchased at the 200 per cent at some
future date.
All restrictions on European immigration into India and acquisition by them of land
and property in India were remove. This clause removed the legal barrier on the
European colonization of India.
The act centralized the administration of India. The governor general of Bengal
become the governor general of India. The Governor-general-in-council was given
the power to control, superintend and direct the civil and military affairs of the
company. Bombay, madras and Bengal and other territories were placed under the
complete control of the Governor-general-in-council. All revenues were to be
raised under the authority of the governor-general-council who was to have
complete control over the expenditure.
The act also brought about legislative centralisation. The governments of madras
and Bombay were drastically deprived of their powers of legislative and left only
with the right of proposing to the governor general I council projects of the laws
which they thoughts expenditure.
Indians in the Government service
The section 87 of the Charter Act of 1833, declared that "Normative of the
British Territories in India, NOR any natural Boon subject of "His majesty"
therein, shall by any reason only by his religion, place of birth, descent,
colour or any of them be disabled from holding any place, office or
employment under the company"
This policy was not seen in any other previous acts. So the Charter act of
1833 was the first act which provisioned to freely admit the natives of India
to share an administration in the country.



THE CHARTER ACT OF 1853
INTRODUCTION
In 1853, the charter act of 1833 was to time out and had to be renewed. It was
renewed but no substantial changes were made. However, this was for the first
time, that this charter act, unlike other charter acts, did not fix any limit for the
continuance of the administration of the company in India. The act provided that
the Indian territories will remain under the Governance of the company, until the
parliament otherwise directed.
The Act emphasized the legislative reforms but it did not grant the
commercial privileges to the company. After twenty years of the Acts of 1833, the
time approached for the renewal of the Company`s Charter. With the passage of
time there was a growing demand that the double Governments of the company in
England should be ended. It has also been declared that the Court of Directors and
the Board of control only resulted in the unnecessary delay in the business
transactions and led to undue expenditure. An application was sent to the
presidencies of India to appoint a secretary of state with a Council. The Secretary of
state would be entrusted to handle all business relating to India.
It had been ideated that the existing legislative system under the Charter Act of
1833 was completely inadequate. Moreover after the Acts of 1833 there were
territorial and the political changes in India. Sind and Punjab had been annexed to
the company`s territory. A number of Indian States except Pegu in Burma became
victim of Dalhousie`s policy of annexation. Gradually there were the demands of
the decentralization of power and for giving the Indian people the shares in the
administration. It was under these circumstances that the British parliament
decided to renew the charter of the company in the year 1853. The company in the
preceding year appointed two Committees to look into the affairs of the company.
On the basis of their reports the charters Act of 1853 was framed and passed.
The charter Acts of 1853
renewed the powers of the company and allowed it to retain possessions of Indian
territories. However this Charter Act did not grant commercial privileges for the
specific period of time. Rather it did not mention any time period. The charter Act
of 1853 provided that the salaries of the members of the Boards of controls, its
Secretary and other officers would be fixed by the British government but would be
paid by the company. The number of the members of the court of directors was
reduced from 24 to 18 out of which 6 were to be nominated by the Crown. By the
Act of 1853, the Court of directors was disposes of their power of patronage and
the high posts were made subjects to the competitive examination, s where no
discriminations would be made on the basis of caste, creed and religion. A
committee with Maccualay as its president was appointed in the year 1854 to
enforce his scheme. The Court of directors was empowered to constitute a new
Presidency. The court of Directors, by the Act also could alter the boundaries of the
existing states and incorporate the newly acquired state. This provision was made
uses to create a separate Lieutenant Governorship for Punjab in the years 1859.
The Act also empowered the crown to appoint a Law commission in England to
examine the reports and the drafts of the Indian law commission.
In India the separation of the executive and the legislative functions was carried a
step further by the provision of the additional members for the purpose of
legislation. The Law Member was made the full member of the governor Generals
Executive council. This council while sitting in its legislative capacity was enlarged
by the addition of the six members, namely the chief Justice and others judge of
Calcutta supreme Court and four representative one each from Bengal, madras,
Bombay and the north western provinces. The provincial representatives were to
be the civil servants of the company. The governor General was empowered to
appoint two more civil servants to the Council. It had been declared by the Act that
discussion sins the Council became oral instead of writing. Bills were referred to the
Select Committees instead to a single s member and legislative business was
conducted in public instead of the secret.
The charter Act of 1853 was a compromise between the two conflicting views.
Those who favoured the retentions of the Company`s territorial authority were
satisfied by the provisions of the charter Act of 1853. The newly formed Legislative
council threatened to alter the whole structures of the Indian government. Thus
the Legislative Council denied the provisions made by the Charter Acts of 1853. The
glaring defect of the Charters Act of 1853 was the continued exclusion of the
people of the land with the work of legislation. However the charter act of 1853,
strengthen the oppressive policy of the British Government in India.

Genesis of Indian Civil Services
The previous charter act of 1833 had laid down that the Court of Directors should
nominate annually 4 times as many candidates as there were vacancies, from
whom one should be selected by competitive examination. The charter act of 1833
also provided the Hailey bury college of London should make quota to admit the
future civil servants. However, this system of an open competition was never
effectively operated. A The Committee under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay
had prepared the regulations in this context.

The report said that
Hailey bury should cease to be maintained as higher education college for
the ICS
There should be a broad general education rather than specialized
education for the ICS recruits
The recruitment should be based upon an open competitive examination to
bring out the best candidates and not through mere superficial knowledge
The appointments should be subject to a period of probation.
Charter Act of 1853 deprived the Court of Directors of its right of Patronage
to Indian appointments and now it was to be exercised under the
regulations. This was the Birth of Civil Services which was thrown in 1854 for
open competition.
New provinces
By that time, the administrative situation got hard due to annexation of new
territories to the company's possession in India.
The Charter Act of 1853 empowered the Governor General of India-in
Council to take over by proclamation under his immediate authority and
management of the territories for the time being.
He was authorized to issue necessary orders and directions for its
administrations or provide for its administration.
This resulted in creation of Assam, the central provinces, and Burma.